Phase One: School Daze (Fall 2009) Courtney: “Will you be quiet!” Miles: “Shhhh…everybody be quiet. [door closes] TURN UPP!!!” Courtney and Miles met sophomore year of undergrad in Atlanta, Ga. She studied nursing at Georgia State University (a prime location for the pregame turn up) and he was a biology major at Morehouse College (subprime location). Miles grew up in Atlanta with Courtney’s roommate and he and his friends would frequent their campus suite ahead of weekend nights on the town. While her roommate welcomed the company and excitement, Courtney was not shy in voicing her displeasure with the disruption they often caused to her evening studies. Despite this, Miles and his friends continued to visit and attempted to persuade Courtney to join in the festivities. However, she remained dedicated to her studies, giving the occasional evil eye when the group grew too loud. That is, until one evening when the mood was calm and her studies were done, the two finally got the chance to have a conversation that didn’t begin with “Would you all please be quiet!”. To Courtney’s surprise, she and Miles became fast friends and the rest is history…or, her story. Depends on who you ask. Phase Two: Wrong place, wrong time (Fall 2014) Courtney: “Facetime tonight at 9 PM?” Miles: “Can’t, I’ll be in lab” Fast forward 5 years, the two graduated and moved to new cities to pursue their graduate degrees. Courtney to “the middle of nowhere”, Pennsylvania, and Miles to Chicago. Over the years, the two had grown to become close friends and expressed an interest in pursuing something more. Hesitant to jump into a long distance relationship, they eventually braced and took the leap. The two enjoyed a loving and caring relationship for some time, but ultimately, life’s stresses and challenges across geographies and time zones brought this phase of their relationship to an end. While the two remained friends, continuing to support one another as they completed their graduate studies and prepared to enter the world, it never felt quite the same. Phase Three: “Reunited and it feels so good” (Fall 2019) Courtney: “I’m moving back to Atlanta.” Miles: “You missed me, huh?!” 5 years later… As the two continued to share milestones, they came to realize that neither had found quite as strong a connection with others as they shared with each other. And in the Fall of 2019, Courtney decided to move back to Atlanta to give their relationship one more shot. Three years, two homes and one pandemic later, they are going strong and enjoying nearly every minute of it. Although, from time to time she still tells him and his friends to quiet down, but every once in a while, he convinces her to let her hair down and join them.

It’s the Spring of 2020, Courtney and Miles have been going strong for the better part of a year and were beginning to plan a life together. In a couple of months they were headed on a dream vacation to spend 2 weeks exploring the beautiful islands of Greece. Little did Courtney know, Miles was planning a surprise that would make the trip all the more memorable. Miles planned to propose during this trip as part of a grand birthday surprise. That is until Covid-19 took over the global headlines and a pandemic brought the world to a halt. Instead of celebrating their birthdays and pending engagement on boats and beaches in the Mediterranean, they were stuck in their home in Atlanta. Needless to say, this threw a wrench in Miles’ plans. As time went on, it became less and less clear when travel restrictions would be lifted to allow for this special moment. So, he had to pivot. If he could not propose to her in a special place, he would instead propose in front of special people. At the end of the year, Courtney’s grandmother would be returning to Georgia (after Covid extended her visit to California for several months) along with her mother and sister for the Christmas holiday. Coincidently, Miles’ family would also be travelling to Georgia for the holiday break to visit Miles and Courtney’s new home. So, with a little coordination, enough overlap was arranged to facilitate introductions and allow Miles to pop the question in front of their families on Christmas day. It caught Courtney completely off guard, as evidenced by her crocodile tears in the photos Miles keeps as proof. For Miles, it was one of the highlights of his life, but Courtney refuses to let him live down that she was in sweat pants for the big moment. But, “we do what we can”. Besides, if you can pop the question to someone in sweats then the love must be real, right!?